There are many remote ordering systems available that allow a user to place an order for goods using a networked mobile wireless telecommunication computing device, such as a smartphone. However, these systems do not account for the fact that the travel time and the preparation time may be different, resulting either in loss of quality or the individual having to wait. For example, before leaving work a user could use his or her smartphone to place an online order for food to be picked up from a restaurant, such as a pizzeria or a quick service restaurant, either on his or her lunch break or on the way home. However, in most cases the user will arrive at the restaurant either to find that the food has been ready for some time and is rapidly losing heat and freshness, or else the user will have to wait for the food to be ready, wasting valuable time.
Moreover, if the user arrives at the restaurant during a busy time, such as the lunch or dinner rush, there may be considerable disorganization and disorder. One possible solution is to provide a dedicated position within the restaurant for users picking up remote orders. However, even if a dedicated position is provided, where a large number of users have used their smartphones to place remote food orders and arrive at the restaurant around the same time, the restaurant staff must still match the orders to the respective users, which takes time. Even if the food is ready and fresh when the user arrives, the time taken for the restaurant staff to isolate a particular user's order from a large number of other remotely placed orders can be significant. This tends to defeat the purpose of placing a remote order in advance, and leads to irritation of the user and may also allow the food quality to degrade, even if it happened to have been ready precisely when the user arrived.